There weren’t many bands that represented Texas rockabilly like ZZ Top. And on August 18, we saw the sad passing of Frank Beard, who at 77 was far too young. Frank was the second of the three original ZZ Top members to shuffle off the mortal coil. He being preceded by bass player and vocalist Dusty Hill in 2021. Now lead guitarist and vocalist Billy Gibbons is the only original member of the band left.
It’s sad to see so many rockers I loved in my youth (and still do) passing away. It’s a reminder that all things end, and that life is water, not stone. That’s something I’m reminded of every time I look in the mirror.
ZZ Top formed up in Houston, Texas, in 1969. They have been around for a long time; the original lineup continued from 1969 to 2021, 52 years, and that’s a fine run indeed.
Here are some of my favorites.
La Grange (1974): I have my own memory of this song. My three buddies and I were hanging out in my friend’s basement apartment, in an advanced state of inebriation. The television was on, but the sound was turned off, with a ZZ Top album on the turntable. The four of us were watching an old Patrick Wayne "Sinbad" movie, with the usual stop-motion monsters, but the soundtrack was "La Grange." It took us a few minutes to figure out what was wrong with that picture.
Tush, where I grew up, had two meanings. It meant what it means in New York. Tush is also like plush, very lavish, very luxurious. So it depended on how you used it. If somebody said, "That's a tush car,' you knew they weren't talking about the rear end of the car. That's like saying, 'That's a cherry short.' But tush as in 'That's a nice tush on that girl,' that's definitely the same as the Yiddish word. I don't know how we got it in Dallas. All it could have took was one guy moving down from New York.
Back in the day, we were all pretty sure we knew what they meant.
Cheap Sunglasses (1979): This one hit home because, back in 1979, the only sunglasses most of us could afford were the cheap ones. Fortunately, every gas station as well as my employer, the Woolco discount store, had a wide variety on offer. Mirrored aviator-style shades were the most popular. When playing this song in concert, ZZ Top had the habit of throwing cheap sunglasses out into the audience, which probably left a lot of kids with a great souvenir. I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide (1979): Back in 1979, we all thought we were “bad” in the good sense, although we weren’t so nationwide. Texas blues man Joey Long was, though, despite not having a driver’s license. Long was a good friend of the band, and it’s said that he and his travels in a new Cadillac with his wife at the wheel inspired this song. Tube Snake Boogie (1981): Here’s another one with a double entendre. The polite interpretation of the term was, according to Billy Gibbons, a surfboard. In 1985, Billy told Spin magazine:Gimme All Your Lovin’ (1983): With the 1983 album Eliminator, ZZ Top changed their style just a tad, while retaining the long beards and the spinning guitars. This album and this song were the first in which the band used a synthesizer, and (probably because of the girls) it was a big hit on MTV, back when MTV was actually about music. Sharp Dressed Man (1983): Back in 1983, sharp dressed meant something different than now. I was still in Iowa then, and most of us 70’s holdovers were still running around in black pocket-T-shirts, jeans so long they dragged on the ground, and black leather engineer’s boots. But the video for this song presented us with several alternatives. My Head’s In Mississippi (1990): Finally, from the album Recycler, comes this song that really cranked up some of the blues influences that were always with ZZ Top. In 2015, Billy Gibbons said of this tune:Originally, it was a surfboard. A friend of mine, for obvious reasons, liked the sound of the name. I guess it's the first cousin to a tube steak.
My buddy Walter Baldwin spoke in the most poetic way. Every sentence was a visual awakening. His dad was the editor of the Houston Post. We grew up in a neighborhood where the last thing you would say is, 'These teenagers know what blues is.' But our appreciation dragged us in. Years later, we were sitting in a tavern in Memphis called Sleep Out Louie's — you could see the Mississippi River. Walter said, 'We didn't grow up pickin' cotton. We weren't field hands in Mississippi. But my head's there.'
I’m pretty sure you all have some memories to share about ZZ Top and their signature sounds. Let us know; the comments, again, are all yours.
Oh, and yes, next week we will be featuring Dolly Parton. Stay tuned.
